Books with romance that made this cynical, hard-hearted bookwyrm feel things. No insta-love, no triangles, no romanticizing abusive behavior; characters are developed, with lives outside of the romance.

Emily Henry

Light Paperback (1 lb or less)

Kentucky

THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER FROM THE #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF PEOPLE WE MEET ON VACATION!

"Original, sparkling bright, and layered with feeling."--Sally Thorne, author of The Hating Game

A romance writer who no longer believes in love and a literary writer stuck in a rut engage in a summer-long challenge that may just upend everything they believe about happily ever afters.

Augustus Everett is an acclaimed author of literary fiction. January Andrews writes bestselling romance. When she pens a happily ever after, he kills off his entire cast.

They're polar opposites.

In fact, the only thing they have in common is that for the next three months, they're living in neighboring beach houses, broke, and bogged down with writer's block.

Until, one hazy evening, one thing leads to another and they strike a deal designed to force them out of their creative ruts: Augustus will spend the summer writing something happy, and January will pen the next Great American Novel. She'll take him on field trips worthy of any rom-com montage, and he'll take her to interview surviving members of a backwoods death cult (obviously). Everyone will finish a book and no one will fall in love. Really.

Beach Read

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#paperback #zombie #romance #adaptation #romeoandjuliet #starcrossed

Virginia

A Novel

Alienated from his fellow zombies because of his dislike of having to kill humans and his enjoyment of Sinatra music, "R" meets a living girl who sharply contrasts with his cold and dreary world and who he resolves to protect in spite of her delicious appearance. A first novel. Reprint.

Warm Bodies

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Alexis Hall

Ohio

Wanted: One (fake) boyfriend Practically perfect in every way Luc O'Donnell is tangentially--and reluctantly--famous. His rock star parents split when he was young, and the father he's never met spent the next twenty years cruising in and out of rehab. Now that his dad's making a comeback, Luc's back in the public eye, and one compromising photo is enough to ruin everything. To clean up his image, Luc has to find a nice, normal relationship...and Oliver Blackwood is as nice and normal as they come. He's a barrister, an ethical vegetarian, and he's never inspired a moment of scandal in his life. In other words: perfect boyfriend material. Unfortunately apart from being gay, single, and really, really in need of a date for a big event, Luc and Oliver have nothing in common. So they strike a deal to be publicity-friendly (fake) boyfriends until the dust has settled. Then they can go their separate ways and pretend it never happened. But the thing about fake-dating is that it can feel a lot like real-dating. And that's when you get used to someone. Start falling for them. Don't ever want to let them go.

Boyfriend Material

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Melting a Cold Heart

Great nonfiction reads for some educational escapism.

Florida

A Woman's Solo Trek Across 1700 Miles of Australian Outback

Tracks (Movie Tie-In Edition)

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Heavy Paperback (2 to 4 lbs)

Washington

Reclaiming Jane Austen from the Stiffs, the Snobs, the Simps and the Saps

Novelist Rodi (Fag Hag, The Sugarman Bootlegs) launches a broadside against the depiction of Jane Austen as a "a woman's writer ... quaint and darling, doe-eyed and demure, parochial if not pastoral, and dizzily, swooningly romantic - the inventor and mother goddess of 'chick lit.'" Instead he sees her as "a sly subversive, a clear-eyed social Darwinist, and the most unsparing satirist of her century." In this volume, which collects and amplifies two-and-a-half years' worth of blog entries, he combs through the first three novels in Austen's canon - Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, and Mansfield Park - with the aim of charting her growth as both a novelist and a humorist, and of shattering the notion that she's a romantic of any kind."Hiarious ... Rodi's title is a tribute. He's angry that the Austen craze has defanged a novelist who's 'wicked, arch, and utterly merciless. She skewers the pompous, the pious, and the libidinous with the animal glee of a natural-born sadist' ... Like Rodi, I believe Austen deserves to join the grand pantheon of gadflies: Voltaire and Swift, Twain and Mencken." - Lev Raphael, The Huffington Post

Bitch in a Bonnet

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Heavy Hardcover (2 to 4 lbs)

Exotic Cocktails, Rum, and the Cult of Tiki

"Cast aside your cares and worries. Make yourself a Mai Tai, put your favorite exotica record on the hi-fi, and prepare to lose yourself in the fantastical world of tiki, one of the most alluring--and often misunderstood--movements in American cultural history. Martin and Rebecca Cate, founders and owners of Smuggler's Cove (the most acclaimed tiki bar of the modern era) take you on a colorful journey into the lore and legend of tiki: its birth as an escapist fantasy for Depression-era Americans; how exotic cocktails were invented, stolen, and re-invented; Hollywood starlets and scandals; and tiki's modern-day revival. Featuring more than 100 delicious recipes (original and historic), plus a groundbreaking new approach to understanding rum, Smuggler's Cove is the magnum opus of the contemporary tiki renaissance. Whether you're looking for a new favorite cocktail, tips on how to trick out your home tiki grotto, help stocking your bar with great rums, or inspiration for your next tiki party, Smuggler's Cove has everything you need to transform your world into a Polynesian Pop fantasia"--

Smuggler's Cove

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Snow Theory

Books to thrill a reader through the long dark of winter.

Laurie Halse Anderson

Light Hardcover (1 lb or less)

Pennsylvania

Eighteen-year-old Lia comes to terms with her best friend's death from anorexia as she struggles with the same disorder.

Wintergirls

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Paulette Kennedy

Utah

In Depression-era Arkansas, something wicked has come to a haunted mountain town in a novel of uncanny suspense by the author of Parting the Veil.

Blood and power bind three generations of women in the Ozark Mountains. So does an evil that's followed them across the decades.

1931. Gracelynn Doherty lives peacefully on Tin Mountain, helping her adoptive granny work her cures. Despite whispers that the women are witches, the superstitious locals still seek them out, whether to remedy arthritis or a broken heart. But when evangelist Josiah Bellflower comes to town promising miracle healing, full bellies, and prosperity, his revivals soon hold Tin Mountain in thrall--and Granny in abject fear.

Granny recognizes Josiah. Fifty years ago, in a dark and desperate moment, she made a terrible promise. Now Josiah, an enemy, has returned to collect his due.

As Granny sickens and the drought-ridden countryside falls under a curse, Gracelynn must choose: flee Tin Mountain and the only family she knows, or confront the vengeful preacher whose unholy mission is to destroy her.

The Witch of Tin Mountain

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Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Hardcover (1 to 2 lbs)

California

"The acclaimed author of Gods of Jade and Shadow returns with a darkly enchanting reimagining of Gothic fantasy, in which a spirited young woman discovers the haunting secrets of a beautiful old mansion in 1950s Mexico"--

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